


Byte Sized Furball

by KennaM



Series: Fandom Kittens [6]
Category: Generator Rex
Genre: Gen, Kittens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-02 23:31:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4078003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KennaM/pseuds/KennaM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The tiny grey tabby cat that shows up in Rex's room is entirely not his fault. He promises.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Byte Sized Furball

Rex didn’t _mean_ to bring the kitten back to central with him after his Providence mission. It just sort of happened.

He just sort of _accidentally_ tucked the tiny, grey thing into his jacket before boarding the jet back to base. It wasn’t like he gave it a lot of thought when he crossed his arms protectively over the kitten on the walk back to his room. It certainly wasn’t intentional, the way he coughed over the kitten’s mewling or rubbed where he thought its head was through the fabric of his jacket, to calm it down.

At least that was his plan, he thought to himself as he finally closed the door behind him and let the kitten down to the floor. No way Holiday or Six wouldn’t find the thing eventually, and chew him out for picking up a stray animal, but he would just tell them it was an accident. _The thing followed me_ , he practiced, _on its own free will, who am I to stop it? Look how cute it is!_

No one would suspect a thing.

Luckily Bobo wasn’t in at the moment, or the whole plan would have been ruined. The ape was probably at the mess hall right now, cheating some pawns out of their money. Rex wasn’t sure how kindly he’d take to a kitten sharing a room with them, except that he almost certainly wouldn’t like it. He’d have to be convinced.

And the kitten could probably be the one to do the convincing. It was so tiny, its eyes so wide and curious, and the first thing it had done after Rex let it down to the floor was start to chew on his boot. Its jaw was too small to even get a good grip on the rubber. How could anyone not fall in love?

Rex sat down on his bed to watch the kitten as it started to explore the room. He’d have to think of a name. If it had a name, Holiday would almost definitely let him keep it. It was grey, with a bunch of black lines through its fur; Rex knew there was a word for that but he wasn’t sure what it was.

Stripe? Too boring a name. Tiger? Cool, not quite there yet. The Pulverizer?

The kitten had started to chew on a video game controller cord, so Rex jumped up to take it from the kittens mouth. It mewed up at him innocently, as if asking him a question. “Maybe not The Pulverizer,” he said back. “You can work up to that name.”

So far, it seemed to like to chew on things. He hoped that wouldn’t cause too much trouble. He’d have to keep the video game and TV cords out of reach, and maybe find someplace to tuck his boots away while he slept so they weren’t half eaten in the morning. With a bit of catproofing, Rex thought, the new houseguest wouldn’t be able to destroy much.

Suddenly, Rex broke into a wide grin. “I got it,” he said to the kitten who wasn’t paying any attention to him. “The perfect name for you. Wanna hear it?”

The kitten mewled loudly, but more as a reaction to Bobo, now standing in the open doorway, than anything Rex had said. Bobo’s eyes were wide, and he stared down at the kitten as he spoke. “What is this?”

“Hey Bobo,” Rex said. He was still standing by the TV and the kitten was on the floor directly in-between them. “It’s a kitten. Ever seen a kitten before? They’re baby cats, apparently.”

“I know what a kitten is.” Bobo glared up at Rex. “Six asked me to come check up on you. Said you were acting funny after the mission. Now there’s a cat in our room?”

“Kitten,” Rex corrected. “And how did Six notice? I was very careful.”

“No,” Bobo said. “You weren’t.” He was still standing in the open doorway, and though the kitten seemed afraid of him, it was starting to get curious. As it moved a couple steps forward, Bobo moved a couple steps back, and peered into the empty hallway. “I’m going to get Six,” he said.

“No! You can’t!” Rex lunged forward, partly to stop his friend and partly to scoop the kitten up before it wandered out and got lost.

“Too late. Six!” Bobo called down the hallway, where the other agent had just rounded the corner. Alarmed, Rex quickly tucked his hands, and the kitten he held around the stomach, behind his back. The kitten squirmed unsuccessfully. 

Six, who had definitely not been wandering nearby in case he was needed, joined the pair at the doorway. “What is it?” he asked.

“We got a problem,” Bobo said, and looked at Rex, who was acting as nonchalant as he possibly could. When he said nothing, Bobo frowned, and added, “show him.” 

Rex let out a defeat sigh, then brought his hands out from behind his back, holding the tiny grey kitten up to his chest. It mewled at him again and squirmed some more. “Its name is Kilobyte,” he said. 

A raised eyebrow was the only change in Six’s expression. “Kilobyte?”

“Because it’s so tiny!”

The kitten was taken directly to Holiday, with Six supervising to make sure Rex actually went. Bobo followed along as well, mostly for the entertainment. “Ah, Rex, you’re here,” Holiday said as soon as the trio entered her lab. She was staring at a monitor, not watching the doorway. “Good, I wanted to run some tests to check your nanite co–” she cut herself off when she finally looked up to see what he was carrying.

“Its name is Kilobyte?” Rex offered.

“Where did you get that?” Holiday asked, after recovering from her surprise.

“I found it. Alone, on the streets. I couldn’t just leave it to die!”

Holiday sighed, and rubbed her forehead. “While fighting that EVO, you mean,” she said. “Come here, then. Let me see it.”

Rex stepped forward to hand her the kitten while Six and Bobo stood back, watching. Holiday held it in both her hands, checking its belly, rubbing its back, and then scratching its head in what Rex was pretty sure was an affectionate manner.

“Well,” Holiday said, heading to one of her testing stations and setting the kitten down on a scanner. “I’m pretty sure it’s a girl, but I’ll run a couple tests to make sure. What did you say you were calling her again?”

Rex couldn’t stop another grin. “Kilobyte,” he answered. “Because she likes to bite, and because she’s so small.”

Holiday said nothing for a moment, while the scanner finished running, then she looked up at Rex. “It’s not that she likes to bite, Rex. She’s hungry. She needs her mother.”

Rex’s expression dropped. Of course the kitten was hungry, why hadn’t he thought of that? What did kittens even eat? He hadn’t considered the fact that he knew nothing of taking care of animals when he’d scooped the kitten up and hid it inside his jacket.

“You’ll have to take it back,” Six spoke up, “and find the mother. If you can.” Rex frowned, and dropped his gaze to the floor.

“That’s not going to be a problem,” he said. “I know exactly where she is.” Six’s expression didn’t change, which was a sign for him to continue. Rex sighed, and added, “about four floors below us now, in a steel cage.”

Six and Holiday shared a look as that sunk in. “You mean that EVO we caught earlier this morning,” Six said. Rex nodded.

“I couldn’t cure it, but I could tell what it was, and when I saw Kilobyte… I knew she’d be without a home now. So I decided to take her, to keep her safe.”

The kitten was still standing atop Holiday’s scanner, but she’d started to chew on one of the mechanical arms. Holiday watched her for a moment, before speaking again. “That was very thoughtful of you,” she finally said, “but we’re still going to have to feed her, and without her mother’s milk…. I can probably come up with a nutrient formula, but she’ll have to be bottle fed.”

“I can do that,” Rex said quickly. “Anything she needs, I can take care of it.”

“Even cleaning up after it when it makes a mess?” Six asked.

“Of course.”

“He means when it poops,” Bobo added. Rex pulled a face.

“Ew. But also, I guess, yeah, if that’s what it takes. Do you think White would really let me keep her?”

Six paused, seriously considering it. “No,” he said, “but knowing you, he won’t have much say in the matter.”


End file.
